Part I: With me, what happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas...

Ahh...Vegas...love it? Not me. I'm not a big Vegas person. I've been going to Vegas for 40+ years so I remember the "good ol' Vegas" and that's not what Vegas is now. It used to be a place you would go for a "cheap" vacation! NOT today! Soooooo not the case!! Everything is expensive in Vegas - the taxis, the food, the rooms, the shows. It seems like everything!! Luckily I was there on "business" travel. Well, actually I don't really get paid so it's more like volunteer work but same general idea as "business" travel in the fact that I don't pay for anything while I'm there. So recap here we come!

FRIDAY
My trip started off with a funny story (or maybe sad and a little disturbing...you decide). I'm shopping around in Brookstone and there is a younger, fairly good looking but clearly egotistical, fairly cocky looking guy in the store. One of the employees was trying to help him. Here's the dialog:
Employee (E): What can I help you find today?
Self-centered cocky dude (SCCD): I'm looking for something for my wife.
E: Oh, all right, do you have anything in particular in mind?
SCCD: Not really. I just want something that's really hip and cool.
E: Okay, what does she like?
SCCD: I don't know. What's a really popular cool item that you guys sell a lot of?

Okay, REALLY?!? You don't know what your wife likes?!? Can you imagine if his wife had heard any of this conversation? Appalling really! That's my opinion anyway...and you ALL are entitled to it!!!

Moving right along, boarded the plane (Southwest of course) and got a good seat. They close up the plane and we're off...except not really...we're driving all over LAX airport. Seriously we were taxiing all around the airport for about 10 minutes when the captain comes on. He's as confused as we are and says we won't be leaving for a good 20-25 minutes. We ended up leaving about an hour after hour scheduled time but must have made up some serious time in the air because I think our flight was only 45 minutes and it's usually about an hour. Landed basically the same time as my friend so we met up at her bag claim. I handed her one of my Cereal Bars upon seeing her and she LOVED it. Then it was off to the hotel. But NOT before getting ripped off by the cabbie!! Just a litte FYI for all of you: When you take a cab in Vegas to a hotel on the strip, don't let them take you through the tunnel to the freeway. That will cost you about double what it would cost if they take surface streets!!!

We get to the hotel (the Palazzo) and leave our luggage with the bellman who guarantees that our luggage will be "totally safe and locked up". "Feel free to leave it here as long as you like." Well, this is good because we have to get to the meeting room ASAP and check in on our exhibitors to make sure they know which table is theirs and can get their packages from the business package center. It was about 3:00/3:30 and we were going to be in that room till 6pm. So everything goes smoothly there. Just to tide us over I hand my friend one of the Jamie Eason Chicken Muffins and she LOVES that too. Then later I go to find a salad for us. The Bistro is closed so I end up heading over to the deli. Well, can you believe it?!? Only $11 for 2 salads!!! In the heart of the Venetian hotel!! I was shocked. Not that they were any deluxe salads but they were good enough and the ingredients were fresh. My friend went and checked us into our room. Then at 6 or 6:15 or so we got to go to our room. Once there, we only had a couple of things happen.

We called for our luggage and gave them the tag # and my friend's name.They said it would be up in about 10-15 minutes. Great. This call, by the way, was made on the speakerphone because the cordless handset was broken. That was the next call we made, to have the handset fixed. Then since I am allergic to down/feathers I had to have my bedding changed. My friend's bed was fine. That was call #3!! As we're waiting and it's been well over 15 minutes we get another call from the luggage people:
Luggage: Could you give us the ticket # again?
Me: It's O-555555555 (or whatever it was)
Luggage: Okay, right. (Clearly this was the number they were already looking for!) And how many pieces do you have?
Me: 2
Luggage: And could you describe the luggage to me?
WHAT?!? I thought the luggage would be safe, secured, locked up!! Really, you can't find our luggage? LOL!! Apparently they finally did find it and brought it up. The phone guy came and fixed our phone. We left before the bedding people came but knew it would be fine and they would change the bedding.

It was dinnertime after all and we were ready to eat. We headed over to Taqueria Cañonita in the Venetian. Here's what we ate:

APPETIZER

Ceviche Trio

Shrimp and Calamari Sangrita

Ahi Tuna with Cantaloupe and Rice Vinaigrette

Veracruzano with Manzanilla Olives

All served with flour tortilla chips!!

ENTREES

Carne Asada Norteña
Grilled Black Angus strip loin steak, Poblano rajas quesadilla, borracho beans and grilled shrimp salsa

Piloncillo Pork Tenderloin
Center cut seared pork tenderloin with hoja santa tamal,
Pineapple mole and apricot tomatillo marmalade.

 My review? The appetizer was DELISH! Very interesting combination of flavors and flour tortilla chips! I mean, come on! Who am I to turn down a chip, much less a white flour tortilla chip?!? My entree was good flavor but I thought since it was Carne Asada it was going to be thinly sliced. As you can see, it was basically a steak and about 10 oz at that! I ate almost all of it. It was very tasty. My friend had the pork and it was very delicious too. Especially with the hoja santa tamal. That was tasty. No dessert was necessary that night.

When we got back to the room the bedding had been switched and they had left these cute little boxes of chocolates on our beds. Aren't they cute? We ate THOSE as our dessert.

So it was off to slumberland and getting up at 5:15/5:30 to be in our meeting rooms by 6:30!